Athletics Round-up by Christine Yavari

WIRRAL AC Boys' 'A' team clinched second place when the McDonald's Young Athletes League started at the Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield. The meeting formed part of the Sheffield Festival of Sport.

Wirral's 227 points total was bettered only by a strong Mandale team (252). It was an overall good team performance by the Wirral athletes, some of whom were taking part for the first time, and there were several notable individual performances.

Brett Williams won three events in the Under-15 age group - the 'A' high jump (1.75m), 'A' javelin (39.32m) and 'B' shot (9.11m).

In the same age group, George Sykes won one event - the 'A' shot (10.78m) - and was second in the 'A' discus (22.38m) and 'A' hammer (22.34m).

Oliver Mahoney was a double winner - in the pole vault (3.00m) and 80m hurdles (14.1 secs) - as was Mark Watson in the Under-15 'B' high jump (1.35m) and 'B' 400m (60.5 secs).

Other winners:-

Under-13 1500m - 1st 'A': Bobby Jones (5 mins 5.5 secs); 1st 'B': Jamie Brett (5 mins 22.6 secs). Shot - 1st: David Bulley (7.77m). Under-15 400m - 1st 'A': Danny Patcher (56.5 secs). 800m - 1st 'A': Chris Kelly (2 mins 13.6 secs); 1st 'B': Richard McColl (2 mins 18.2 secs). 1500m - 1st 'A': Rory Smith (4 mins 30.6 secs); 1st 'B': Trevor Merrick (4 mins 56.6 secs). 3000m - 1st 'A': Matthew Rose (10 mins 15.2 secs); 1st 'B': Ian Revell (10 mins 47.2 secs). Under-17 1500m - 1st 'B': Stephen Edwards (4 mins 21.7 secs). 2000m - 1st 'B': Paul May (5 mins 01.5 secs), following 2nd place in the 3000m (9 mins 28.1 secs).

Meanwhile, Wirral Girls' team faced a difficult eight-sided match in the McDonald's Young Athletes' League Premier Division meeting at Stanley Park, Blackpool. The team, although weakened by the absence of a number of key athletes because of school commitments, gave a determined performance, and had to settle for fifth place.

Wirral had two individual winners, both in the Under-17 sprint hurdles - Sian Polhill-Thomas, 1st 'A' (12.3 secs), and Kelly Smith, 1st 'B' (12.6 secs).

Results:

Under-13: 75m - 3rd 'B': Sarah Evetts (11.1 secs); 800m - 3rd 'A': Siobhan Houston (2 mins 45 secs). 1200m - 3rd 'A': Louise Bates (4 mins 22.9 secs).

Under-15: Discus - 2nd 'A': Debbie Guile (24.94m). 200m - 3rd 'B': Nicky Foden (28.6 secs). 1500m - 3rd 'A': Lindsay Doyle (5 mins 22.7 secs); 3rd 'B' :Nicki Smith (5 mins 25.7 secs).

Under-17: Javelin - 2nd 'A': Nicola Broome (31.37m). 800m - 3rd 'A': Ellie Yavari (2 mins 26 secs); 3rd 'B' - Jennie Allison (2 mins 43 secs).

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.